March 25-May 9, 2010
In CounterMart, artist Abby Manock utilizes juvenile color schemes and rudimentary forms in her installation of a convenience store counter in the style of a children’s television show set. It is a scene from the artist’s video Counters brought to life and available for visitor interaction. In Counters, on view within the installation, the artist repeatedly performs brief vignettes centered on production, transportation and exchange in a crayon-color world littered with hand-drawn smiley faces. Despite the cheerful veneer, a slightly sinister element pervades the environment as a voiceover counts to five again and again in a mantra-like fashion. Abby Manock’s work combines drawing, sculpture, installation, performance and video in order to explore the tension between idealized childhood visions of the world and adult angst concerning social and political realities. She has exhibited her work in as varied venues as The Deitch Projects Art Parade in New York and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Manock is based in Brooklyn, New York.
